Weft-supplying mechanism for looms.



E. S. STIMPSON. WEFT SUPPLYING MEGHANISM FOB Looms.

, APPLIOATION FILED JAH.21,1909. 9?2,9430 Patllted 0013. 18,1910.

E. S. STIMPSON.

WBFT SUPPLYING MEGHANISM FOB. LOOMS.

APPLICATION FILED IAN.21,1909.

" 9 3., Patented 001i. 18, 1910.

Edwal'dS.S SOIL y MIX@ APPLICATION :FILED JAN. 21,1909.

Patented Oct. 18, 1910.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

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E. S. STIMPSON.

WEET SUPPLYING MECHANISM Fon Looms.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 21,1909. 4 Q'@ Patented 0st. l, 1910.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

dm/030m ./or'ney W www m E unirnn srnrns EDWARD S. STIMPSON, OF HQPEDALE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T0 DRAPEB COM- PANY, 0F HOPEDALE, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION 0F MAINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented oet. is, iam.

Application led January 21, 1909. Serial No. 473,515.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD S. STIMPsoN, of Hopedale, in the county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts,'have invented cer-o tain new and useful Improvements in Weft- Supplying Mechanism for Looms, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide a magazine for the spare weft-carriers of .an automatic weft-replenishing loom, which shall have large capacity and .whichshall be capable of receiving weft-carriers which have been assembled together in proper order `outside of the weave room.- Accordingly, the assembling of the weft-carriers and their placement inthe magazine can be quickly and readily eiiected without the attention of the weaver and at such infrequent intervals as to `:aiord little or no interference with the work of the weaver in connectiony with the looms. Novel provision is also made for taking care of the weft-ends applicable tothe new magazine and the new plan of handling the weft-carriers.

One embodiment of the invention is illustrated in vthe accompanying drawings, wherein- Figure 1,' is a side viewfof so much of a loom as is necessary for the understanding of the invention. Fig. 2, isv a plan vlew. Fig. 3,V is a section along the line 3 3, in Fig. l. Fig. 4, is asection along the line 4 4` in Fig. 1. Fig. 5, is a section alongy the line 5--5, in Fig. 2. Fig. 6, is a plan view of aportioniof the' weft-carrier holder. F ig'. 7, is an end view -of a bundle of weft-carriers lheld together by the holder.

'A, is the. transferrer which acts to transfer a weft-carrier into weaving osition in the loom when lthe lcondition o the running weft demands replenishment; and, as shown,

it is-the. ordinary swinging transfer of the well-known .Northrop or ADraper loom, as illustrated, VA`for example, in United States Letters Patent No. 529,940, November 27, 1894. v The illustratedtransferrer acts to transfer-'the spare weft-carrier B,-occup ing the transferring position into the working shuttle C. This weftcarrier B, is maintained in transferring position by -the yielding butt and tip stops D, and E, .as usual inl the Northrop loom. TheotherA-spare-w'eftcarriers F, in accordance .with the `present invention, occupy an elevated hopper G, yand v.an inclined .guide channel H, which ,leads from the hopper to the transferring position, and acts as a support for the weft-carriers.

The weft-carrlers within the hopper G, are maintained in relative position to each other by means of a flexible weft-carrier holder I. As shown in Figs. 6, and 7 this holder is composed of pivotally connected wire links a, each of which is curved to iit the middle part of the body of weft on lone weft-carrier. The holder can be laid out flat outside of the weave room, and a weft carrier laid on eachl link, whereupon theholder and carriers can be rolled into a compact bundle as shown in Fig. 7. Each link constitutes a recess or shallow pocket in which a weft-carrier is loosely laid, but when the holder with its superposed weftcarriers is rolled into a bundle, the weftcarriers are securely held in proper relation to each other and to the holder. The bundle is held together by an elastic extensible clamp K, consisting of a coil of wire, pivotally connected to the outer end link a, and

. having a hook b, adapted to engage one of the intermediate exposed links. This bundle can then be handled with no danger of displacing any of the carriers. This bundle is then placed within. the hopper and the clamp is either detached at its hook end or is removed altogether. The leading end of the chain holder is -then passed down through an open throatc, between the bottom d, of the hopper and the bottoln e, of the channel H, and is drawn down over a recessed idle roller L, durin which movement the advance weft-carriers pass down in the channel until stopped by weft-carriers therein.

A weight M, is then suspended upon the leading link a. Side walls f, and g, of the hopper prevent any lateral movement ofthe bundle; the outer wall g, being low enough vnot to interfere with the free passage of the weft-ends.

The s are weft-carriers Within the channel H, iP rier B, held in transferring position by the stops D, E. The channel has a cover t, which overlies the butt and main kbodies of the 'weft-carriers. vObjectionable endwise movement of the weft-carriers while in the 105 .channell is prevented by flanges 2'-, l, and m (Fig. 4). As fast as a weft-carrier is transferred to the loom by the transferrer the spare weft-carriers are advanced bv gravity .and by the. weight The weight also 110 all until stopped by the-active carfeeds the holder I, link by link, thus feeding the carriers from the hopper to the channel. An elastic flat spring detent N, is secured to the top of the cover h, and a part of its free end .is above the transferrer. When the transferrer voccupies its normal uplifted position (Fig. 1, and as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 5) the detentI is upheld When the transferrer descends to the full-line position shown in Fig. 5, the detent encounters and presses upon the leading carrier F, thus restraining the stack of carriers until the detent is removed by the elevation of the transferrer, whereupon 'all of the carriers F, ladvance one step.

The bundle of weft-carriers within the hopper is pressed towardl the outlet of the hopper, and the weft-carriers are prevented from displacement through the vibration of the loom by means of a resser consisting of a weighted roller O, whlch rests upon the bundle. This roller is rotatively lmounted on the rear end of ancarm P, which is pivoted to a xed bracket Q. The arm P, can be swung in either direction and it is limited by stops n, o. The arm can-be swung out of the way so as to leave the top of the hopper open for the reception of a fresh bundle of weft-carriers, Iand the arm can then lbe swung toward the hopper so that the roller O, may rest upon the bundle.

It is important that the weftfends of the spare weft-carriers should be taken care of. All of the weft-ends of the spare weft-carlriers within both the hopper and the channel are drawn off from the weft-carriers sufciently to enable them all to be 4passed through a fixed guidel R, located substantially in line with the weft-carrier B, which occupies thetrans'ferring position. A suitable weight S, .is fastened to the weft-ends below the guide R, whichmoves and takes up slack in the weft-ends. The weft-ends from the weft-carriers in the..hopper pass over the edge .of the outer wall g, and thence over a thread guide-plate T, extending outwardly :from the bottom of the channel H,

over which guide-plate the threads alsoextend from the weft-carriers in the channel, as shown in Fig. 2. The weft-ends pass 'over the guide-p ate T, tothe guide R, beneath a yielding presser-plate U, which is fastened to an arm V, projecting outwardly :from and secured to the cover of the channel. This presser-plate maintains the weftends taut between the weft-carriers and the presser-plate.

It is v'evident that the hopper H, may be made as lar as desired and that the assembled bun le of weftcarriers may be lar e enough to fill the hopper. It is thus feasib e to provide a bundle of weft-carriers sucient to sup 1y the loom' for an entire day so that the Fresh weft-carriers may be supplied to the looms and the spent carriers and empty chain-holders may be. removed when the looms are not running, thus avoiding any interference with the ordinary work of the weavers.

I claim- 1. A weft-replenishing mechanism for looms having, in combination, a transferrer;

an open-mouthed hopper; an inclined channel leading from thel hopper to the transferrer, there being an o en throat between the hopper and channe a roller at the throat; a flexible lweft-carrier holder embracing weft-carriers 'within the hopper, its

free end passing through said throat over said roller; a weight attached lto said free end; and a rising and falling presser consisting of a roller resting on the mass of weft-carriers within the hopper.

2. A weft-repleni hing mechanism for looms having, in combination, a transferrer; an open-mouthed hopper; a channel leading from the hopper to the transferrer, there being an open throat between the hopper and channel.; a roller at .the throat; a flexible weft-carrier holder embracing Vweft-carriers within the hopper, its free end passing through said throat over said roller; and means to feed saidholder as the spare weftcarriers are transferred to the loom.

3. A weft-replenishing mechanism VVfor loomshaving, in combination, a transferrer; a hopper; a flexible weft-carrier holder-embracing weft-carriers and wrapped with said weft-carriers into .a bundle within the hopper; and means to feed said holder as the spare weft-carriers are transferred to the loom.

4. A weft-replenishing mechanism for looms having, in combination, `a hopper havof the contained weft-carriers extend; an

Vinclined channel extending from the hopper to the transferrin point; a thread guiding and supporting p ate alongside said chan` nel; a thread guide through which the weftends pass; a weight suspended rom'the weft-ends; and ayielding presser-plate bearing upon the weft-ends extending over said.

thread guiding and supporting plate.

5. A weftreplenishing mechanism for looms having, in combination, a hopper having an' outer wall over whichthe weftends of the contained weft-carriers, extend; an inclined channel extending fromv the hopper to the transferring point; a thread guiding and supporting plate alongside said channel; and a yielding presser-plate bearing upon the weft-ends extending over said thread guiding and supporting plate.

6. A weft-replenishing 4mechanism for looms having, in combination, a thread guiding and supporting plate; a thread guide.

through whlch the weft-ends pass;- a weight suspended from the weft-ends; and a yielding presser-plate bearing upon the 'weft-ends extending over said thread guiding and supporting plate.

7 A weft replenishing mechanism for looms having, in combination, a transferrer;

\ a channel conducting spare weft-carriers to said transferrer; and a yielding detent normally held idle -by the transferrer but engaging' the leading spare weft-carrier when the transferrer acts to transfer a weft-carrier into Weaving position in the loom.

8. A Weft-replenishing mechanism for looms having, in combination, a thread guiding and ,supporting plate; and a yieldingl presser-plate bearing upon the weft-ends extending over said thread guiding and supporting plate.

9. A weft-replenishing mechanism for looms having, in combination, a transferrer; an open-toppedhopper; and a rising and falling` presser resting on a bundle of weftcarriers Within the hopper.

10. A flexible weft-carrier holder comprising a plurality of Wire links pivotally connected and curved to .fit weft-carriers, there being a link for each carrier, and an elastic extensible clamp connected to one end of the holder and having a hook adapted to engage the holder at an intermediate exterior point When the holder and contained weft-carriers are rolled into a bundle.

11. A flexible weft-carrier holder comprisingr a plurality of pivotally connected links, one for each carrier, and a clamp connected tol one end of the holder and having a hook adapted to engage the holder at an intermediate exterior point when the holder and contained weft-carriers are rolled into a bundle.

i 12. A flexible weft-carrier holder comprising a plurality of pivotally connected links', one for each carrier, and means to fasten the holder when the holder and contained weft-carriers are rolled into a bundle.

o 13. A flexible weft-carrier holder having a series of open recesses, each to loosely receive a weft-carrier, and said holder with the carriers in its recesses being adapted to 'bet rolled into a compact bundle, whereby said carriers are retained in place.

lIn Witness whereof, I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EDWARD S. STIMPSON. Witnesses? GEORGE E. CHANDLER, E. D. OsGooD. 

